In a letter to the leader of a private group of pool supporters, LeRoy Village Mayor Ged Brady has indicated that he and fellow board members wish to sell the Village Pool to the private group, so that they can restore and re-open it.

Mayor Brady says he plans to introduce legislation at this Wednesday's board meeting, under which the Village Trustees would "sell the pool and related buildings to 'LeRoy Pool, LLC' for $1," and also "lease the plot of land (surrounding the pool) to 'LeRoy Pool, LLC' for ninety-nine years...for $1."

The lease deal would reportedly circumvent a lengthy state process to turn public parkland into private land.

Today's development marks a notable change of direction for the Village Trustees, a majority of whom had seemed ready to demolish the pool just several weeks ago. The prevailing reasons for demolishing were the high cost of operation and the even higher cost of required upgrades to the pool, coupled with a perceived low public usage of the facility. The estimated cost of repairs and improvements was close to $450,000.

But early this spring, a private group of local contractors and volunteers banded together and told the Village they would assume the cost of repairs and upgrades – and that they could do it for about $15,000. There was some skepticism on the part of the Trustees, who questioned the private group's ability to raise that money, and then asked the group to possibly assume the cost of pool opening, closing, and operations as well.

But Ged Brady apparently met with group leader Michael Welsh last week, at which time they hammered out more specific details of how the group and the Village could work together to keep the pool, at the lowest possible cost to the Village. Under the new proposed deal, the Village would budget $11,000 per year for the next five years, to aid in the cost of non-personnel operations. Most operating functions would be covered by the group now known as "LeRoy Pool, LLC," along with the Town of LeRoy.

According to the letter, the tentative agreement would "take the Village out of the pool business," and free up funds for other necessary infrastructure improvements in the next several years under the state's property tax cap.